Media Coverage

BioKIDS Featured in Education Week!

"Primed with a few simple instructions, a group of 5th graders ventures into a rich ecosystem, alive with birds, invertebrates, and even a few mammals—like the rabbits they see, but can’t catch. This habitat isn’t a lake, river, or forest. It’s a scruffy school courtyard in the heart of southwestern Detroit."

The May 13, 2009 edition of Education Week features an article about the BioKIDS program in Detroit. The reporter visted BioKIDS schools and talked to teachers, students, and BioKIDS staff, including Dr. Nancy Songer, the project director. He also includes comments by Professor Leona Shauble of Vanderbilt University, another expert on learning progressions. He gives information about the larger goals of the project, and highlights some of the challenges of education in Detroit.

Climate Change Driving Michigan Mammals North

Professor Phil Myers, head of the BioKIDS science team, has recently published an important paper that shows how small mammal species distributions in Michigan are changing in response to climate change. Along with colleagues at Michigan State University and Miami University in Ohio, Dr. Myers has documented how southern species are shifting north, and northern species are in retreat. The ecological effects of these changes are still unknown, but since these small mammals are the most abundant and ecologically important mammals in their ecosystems, the effects could be very strong. The research paper appears in the June 2009 issue of the journal Global Change Biology. ScienceDaily has more information and some quotes from Dr. Myers.

UM-Program Boosts Detroit Science Test Scores

"A class of Detroit middle school students scatters outside their school using PDAs with custom software to track and identify wildlife. They're enjoying a scavenger hunt as their science aptitude soars.

More than 2,000 Detroit Public School students each year participate in BioKIDS, the University of Michigan School of Education and Museum of Zoology program that uses technology and hands-on learning methods to help middle school students ask questions the way scientists do."

Hands-on Learning is Central to U-M Pilot

"Tori Carito walks the wooded fringes of the Lawton Elementary school yard punching data about crows, termites and rabbits into a Palm Pilot-like device.

Nearby, three of her fifth-grade classmates examine hardened tree sap, crumbly soil clods and tufts of
grass for signs of animals or insects. When something moves, they jump for binoculars, butterfly nets and
plastic magnifying boxes. Then 10-year-old Tori records the finds on the device, equipped with software
developed by professional animal trackers in Africa.

The four Lawton students, who call their tracking group "The Shadow," are part of a University of Michigan project that's bringing a new level of sophistication to ecology lessons in southeast Michigan."